Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum
Relic Discussion => Artillery => Topic started by: John D. Bartleson Jr. on April 06, 2014, 06:58:21 PM
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To All Interested,
I am hoping my illustrations of the various fuzes of this model will bring about many comments and hi-res images.
Developed for the larger caliber C. S. shells, a unique and departure from the nose loading strikers and anvil. Please add your comments and high quality images.
Kind Regards,
John
(http://i1168.photobucket.com/albums/r492/jbart252/TheArcherSafetyPinPercussionFuze.jpg) (http://s1168.photobucket.com/user/jbart252/media/TheArcherSafetyPinPercussionFuze.jpg.html)
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Sorry but I don't have any high resolution images. I do have one fuse that is in my 7-inch Mullane from the CSS Richmond's dumping at Trent's Reach, Va. This fuse is very popular fuse among the fuse collectors and is an interesting fuse compared to many. They seemed expensive and time consuming to make to me but maybe not. I am not sure how effective they were and don't see anything in Chuck Jones' fuse book on that subject. Perhaps the fact that Selma drilled the solid top of some and converted them to use paper time fuses is an indication that they did not function well.
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Carl,
It may be that they just needed a time fuze rather than impact. I haven't seen many dud fired ones.
Regards,
John
P.s. Carl my drawings were made from photo images of real fuzes, not from any fuzes I have. after losing my vision I stopped collecting hardware and began amassing images from all over the world, mainly in England, France, Germany and Australia.
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Send me you're email address and I will send you photos of mine. I have a hard time posting photos to this forum. Stevephillips0404@gmail.com
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Thanks Steve, Will do.
John
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will someone give me an I.D. on these two?
Perhaps these are like the ones Carl described. However, these two do not appear to be a modified Archer but a manufactured time fuse adapter for the large Mullane and Brooke shells. I say this because most all Archer safety Pin fuzes I have seen have a a rounded top, if ever so slight. These two don't seem to have provisions for a safety pin or the striker retaining pin at base.
Any thoughts on this?
John
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Those look like the time fuse adapters for Brooke shells to me John
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They look like Brooke fuses to me as well for the field caliber shells. I have a 10-lber shell and a 20-lber shell here at my desk with a fuse in them just like the one on the left.
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Hi Mike,
Manufactured, not modified Safety pin fuzes? Carl can we get some clear photos close-up of the fuzes, Better yet will they remove?
John
P.S. Is there an off chance that Archer made both the Percussion and the time fuse adapter that has a body similar in construction, less the rounded nose, safety pinn and plug or steel pin striker retainer??
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Come on gang, let us hear from Pete, Selma and Brooke.....
John
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Hello,
Here are the images of the fuses in the Brooke shells. These type fuses are found in field caliber shells as well as big iron. Page 184 of Jack Bell's Heavy Explosive Ordnance book shows an example of a shell for the rifled 42-lber gun with this type fuse. Chuck Jones also refers to a shell for the rifled 32-lber with one. But they are quite rare in any caliber. I have always presumed for some reason which I can't recall that the fuses were made in Selma. Any of the knowledgeable Selma people here know if that is the case? Both Jack Bell and Chuck Jones say they are late war usage. I know of the 10-lbers Brookes with the fuse being found at Sulfur Trestle and the 20-lber Brookes found in Atlanta along the Chattahoochee River lines. I have been unable to find a reference of a shell (Read, Mullane, etc.) with this fuse other than a Brooke.
(http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o556/Sitherwood/Forum_Images/Brooke_Fuses_03_zps9150c2bd.jpg)
(http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o556/Sitherwood/Forum_Images/Brooke_Fuses_01_zpsf6d64d11.jpg)
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The photos that John posted are mine of fuzes I found at Selma. I did not say they were modified. I will attempt to post photos of percussion fuzes I found at Selma.
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Steve,
Amazing finds. Thanks for posting. I don't think the Brooke-used time fuses are converted from Archer Percussion fuses either. They look made with the tapered channel. I've not seen one of the converted Archer fuses but Chuck Jones indicates in his book this conversion happened at the factory by removing the percussion internal parts, drilling the top, filling the body with lead and then drilling a tapered hole down the lead center to accept a standard paper time fuse. I wonder if this was done with rejected Archer percussion fuses rather than existing good percussion fuses as it seemed to be a lot of work to essentially build a wood fuse adapter equivilent.
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I wonder where Jones got his reference or was he just guessing how it was don. Too complex when they could have manufactured from scratch or like Carl sugested, use a wooden time fuse adapter.
Cheers,
John
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It is probably more than a guess based on existing examples being filled with lead and having a tapered fuse hole cut down the middle. There are some good images of examples in his book. But if they were trying to salvage rejects and make good use of them that would make sense although as precious as copper was late war I'm sure they could recycle into a better use.
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I am hoping someone will come forward with the answer. BTW Carl that is a excellant pair of images you posted.
John
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Thanks John. I forgot to ID the shells. The one on the left is a 10-lber size (2.9-inch caliber) with the heavy pre-engraved sabot. The one on the right is a 20-lber (3.67-inch caliber) shell for a Parrott rifle with a standard Brooke sabot. It has a "G" clearly stamped on it.
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John, I hope someday you make a print book of your images. They are pretty good and informative, and it looks like you put a lot of work into them..... thanks for the effort !!
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Thanks Dave for your kind comments. This last one of the Archer Fuzes is a composite of individual drawings made over several months. The quality of my drawings is directly related to the high quality of the real images they are drawn from. They are time consuming but exciting to make. I have over 600 U.s. and British color plates. Too many books out now on the subject. Besides I promised Doug Adams, my mentor, not to publish until after his fantastic book on Field Artillery which will include all aspects of ACW equipment. I just happened to meet this amazingly talented person when he was working on projectiles and fuzes.
Kind Regards,
John
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this is what we find around here. I see them in 6.4 Brooke shells. However I only have a bolt